Jun 15 Chemo Diaries - Round 5

Chemo Round 5 really knocked me on my ass, y'all. In my last Chemo Diary, I talked about how the cumulative effects of the chemo have gotten really challenging for me. In addition to my ever dropping white blood cell count, I've been perpetually exhausted and nauseous. This round though, things got the worst they've been.

I get my infusions on Thursdays and get hydration on the following Fridays. I usually feel fine until Saturday or Sunday, but the first indication I had that this round was going to be different was that I already started feeling pretty crappy Friday morning.

*WARNING: NASTY CONTENT AHEAD*

I slept till pretty late on Saturday afternoon and was super nauseous when I woke up. I vomited twice (abnormal for me) and had bloody diarrhea. Not only is this super abnormal for me, it's one of the warning signs my doctor told me to be aware of. When I started chemo, he gave me a list of symptoms and side effects to be aware of. If I experience any of these, I am to call him immediately and head to the ER.

"Blood in the stool" is one of those items. My paperwork instructed me to call if it happened twice, so I told my parents and Timmy and my stepdad (a doctor) told me to let them know if it happened again.

Unfortunately, I felt no better on Sunday and the bloody stool happened again. We immediately called my oncologist and he instructed us to meet him at the ER.

I was admitted to the hospital on Sunday night and was kept under observation until Tuesday afternoon. It. Sucked. I was put on a clear liquid diet for the entire first day, then bumped to an all liquid diet day 2.

While I was in the hospital, I had visits from a number of doctors, including my oncologist and breast surgeon. The good news to come of all this? NO MORE CHEMO!! My oncologist determined that this bump in the road was too big to continue working through and, since I only had one more round of chemo scheduled, he decided to pull the plug.

During my next scheduled infusion, I won't be receiving any of the "hardcore" chemo drugs, just the biologics (Herceptin and Perjeta). We're now on the fast track to my double mastectomy surgery - aiming for it to happen within the next 3-5 weeks. I have follow up appointments with both my breast and plastic surgeons in the next week to firm up our plans and get this show on the road.